The Weekly Coos

It can be a shocker when reflecting upon music through a certain peak in adolescence – that happened to me when I started playing the new Icona Pop album Club Romantech. It’s a lavish hybrid of Electronica treading new territory instead of the more maligned and narrow This Is…Icona Pop. There are some great songs in it, but as the years progressed, new songs were made and released, but still, “I Love It,” feat. Charli XCX remains memorably impactful. It was popular due to its production and hypnotic, carefree attitude in the purview of the narrator, who gets amplified by revving synths and pronounced bass grooves prominently guiding the ship. Unlike their debut ten years ago, their new album sees them finding direction and peace without feeling like they have to or pushing relevancy through sonic structures that felt often tried. Club Romantech is much different, where instead of trying to craft an album to introduce musical character, they are choosing a theme – relative to sound – to bring us in and keep the lights flashing on the dancefloor. It isn’t all perfect, floundering when doing more EDM, but there is enough to merit a listen.

Club Romantech doesn’t mince dishes when reflecting on varying musical avenues that take you at full speed as your feet stay on the one-two without hesitation. In some ways, it’s reminiscent of Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, where, filled with delightfully memorable tragic disco and synth-pop production, it keeps you returning over the influx of LOVE and RELATIONSHIP adjacent content as Icona Pop does with Club Romantech and its wide range of musical genre-bending, whether it is blending more Drum-N-Bass or House notes into the overarching EDM aesthetic. More so, it’s what Dua Lipa did with the album that brings this parallel a little closer – a year after Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa & The Blessed Madonna curated a DJ Mix using remixes of her songs and others – with how Icona Pop constructs Club Romantech, it feels more like a mix where each track brings forth different characteristics, bolstered and given a fresh identity. It’s an album that rides the coattails of an aesthetic and vibe, where instead of conveying multi-dimensional writing, it’s using sound and dynamic vocals to communicate its themes while trying to be kitschy via unique vocal allusions or the effervescently changing production.

From the moment it starts to the moment it ends, the influx of lively, richer sounds begins forming, and the dance floor continues vibrating with endless fun. Though the vibes begin with “Fall For You,” it doesn’t get going until “Shit We Do For Love,” where we hear Icona Pop bridging elements of House with Jersey Club, all while taking influence from more sobering and light vocals ala Pinkpatheress. It has this magnetism where you’re part of the polarity, bringing it closer to heart and mind and loving what you get out of it, especially the lyrical side. Icona Pop isn’t some powerhouse that writes with the intent to deliver structured narratives like a story, instead letting their emotions and moods control what we’re hearing. It’s like what Caroline Hjelt told Apple Music about the song, “When you’re just like, ‘OK, this is not me. I’m not this person. I would never do that.’ But you can become that person when it’s about love. I feel like that song has this bright feeling about it, but also a dark feeling about it, like melancholic….” As Hjelt continues, “It makes me really want to dance my heart out, but with a little bit of sadness, too.”

The last part of that sentence speaks true to the sentiments woven around the sounds. It isn’t complacent with trying to make you feel one or another, instead finding a way to bring forth powerful synergy, even when the production can get rudimentary like on “Fall For You,” “Stockholm At Night,” and “Feels In My Body,” which are more streamlined and direct on both fronts, it makes the unique switches more pronounced while causing a modest dislike for these weaker songs. However, most of their music takes you by the horns and keeps you dancing, even through dour moments, with the occasional uplifting self-confidence that boasts some of its writing. From the sultry and sexy “Stick Your Tongue Out” to the beautiful sampling on “You’re Free,” the content isn’t all directed toward one central fuse, but the way it branches out feels more seamless. It’s the same with the connection Icona Pop brings with their vocals, creating different sonic complexions to keep the (nonproper mix) mix flowing with grace and dynamism, like when incorporating something more subdued with pianos and percussion on “Loving You Ain’t Easy” in between two songs that bang loud with their EDM/Dance/House flairs.

For all that Club Romantech does, it still feels rudimentary to the genre, but not in a negative way. Icona Pop is taking chances with its transitions and instrumentations. The drums on “Faster” fused with the stagnated and characteristically robotic synths, driving home that sense of tech from their title feel more renewed and understandable. Unfortunately, it stumbles over some weaker, more straightforward productions and melodies that do little to expand beyond the pop overtures that placate back into the broader, more drab EDM sphere like “Need You” or the simple 90s House textures of “Stockholm At Night,” does little to attract you beyond the neon-flared synths and sobering vocals that fade into the night. It doesn’t have the resounding depth that comes from using different instruments and sampling as they do with “You’re Free,” probably my favorite track off the album.

Much of Club Romantech was a great surprise that set the stage for an Autumn nightlife to get bumping with some existential dread and uncontrollable dancing; I wish it were better from front to back, but as someone who wasn’t huge on their last album, I’ve become more of a fan now. I’m not as bullish with their growth and see them learning a lot from the writing process with this and growing to create something magnificent.